Uplink control information collision handling

ABSTRACT

Embodiments are presented herein of apparatuses, systems, and methods for a user equipment device (UE) to group transmissions into one or more groups, e.g., of various priority levels and/or types of transmissions. The UE may resolve collisions, e.g., according to one or more procedures described herein. The UE may transmit the transmissions according to the resolutions.

PRIORITY CLAIM INFORMATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/990,322, entitled “Uplink Control Information Collision Handling,”filed Aug. 11, 2020, which claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patentapplication No. 62/887,427, entitled “Uplink Control InformationCollision Handling,” filed Aug. 15, 2019, which are hereby incorporatedby reference in their entirety as though fully and completely set forthherein. The claims in the instant application are different than thoseof the parent application or other related applications. The Applicanttherefore rescinds any disclaimer of claim scope made in the parentapplication or any predecessor application in relation to the instantapplication. The Examiner is therefore advised that any such previousdisclaimer and the cited references that it was made to avoid, may needto be revisited. Further, any disclaimer made in the instant applicationshould not be read into or against the parent application or otherrelated applications.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to wireless devices, and moreparticularly to apparatuses, systems, and methods for transmittinguplink control information.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. Wirelessdevices, particularly wireless user equipment devices (UEs), have becomewidespread. Additionally, there are a variety of applications (or apps)hosted on UEs that perform or depend on wireless communication, such asapplications that provide messaging, email, browsing, video streaming,short video, voice streaming, real-time gaming, or various other onlineservices.

In some instances, for example in 5G new radio (NR), various servicetypes with different reliability and/or latency requirements may besupported. For a UE running mixed services, requirements for uplinkcontrol information may differ significantly. Thus, improvements in thefield are desirable.

SUMMARY

Techniques, apparatuses, systems, and methods are disclosed for a userequipment (UE) device to perform transmission of various types ofinformation, e.g., uplink control information (UCI), associated with oneor more service types. The UE may comprise at least one antenna forperforming wireless communications, a radio coupled to the at least oneantenna, and a processor coupled to the radio, and may be configured tocommunicate in a wireless fashion with a wireless (e.g., cellular)network via at least one type of radio access technology (RAT).

In some embodiments, the UE may group uplink transmissions into one ormore groups, e.g., of various priority levels and/or types oftransmissions. The UE may resolve collisions between two or more uplinktransmissions, e.g., according to one or more embodiments describedherein. The UE may transmit the transmissions according to theresolutions.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory memory medium may include programinstructions executable by a UE that, when executed, cause the UE toperform at least a portion or all of the above operations. In someembodiments, a method performed by the UE may include the UE performingthe above operations. In some embodiments, a method performed by a basestation or network element may include the base station or networkelement performing corresponding operations.

This Summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of thesubject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it will beappreciated that the above-described features are merely examples andshould not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subjectmatter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, andadvantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparentfrom the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the disclosed embodiments can be obtained whenthe following detailed description is considered in conjunction with thefollowing drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system, accordingto some embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates a base station (BS) in communication with a userequipment (UE) device, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example block diagram of a UE, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a BS, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example block diagram of cellular communicationcircuitry, according to some embodiments;

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate examples of a 5G NR base station (gNB),according to some embodiments;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart diagram illustrating an example method for uplinkcontrol information (UCI) collision handling, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example priority order indicator (POI), accordingto some embodiments;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example grouping of uplink transmissions,according to some embodiments; and

FIGS. 11-14 illustrate exemplary techniques for multiplexing uplinktransmissions, according to some embodiments.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way ofexample in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should beunderstood, however, that the drawings and detailed description theretoare not intended to limit the invention to the particular formdisclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover allmodifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spiritand scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Acronyms

The following acronyms may be used in the present Patent Application:

UE: User Equipment

BS: Base Station

ENB: eNodeB (Base Station)

LTE: Long Term Evolution

UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

RAT: Radio Access Technology

RAN: Radio Access Network

E-UTRAN: Evolved UMTS Terrestrial RAN

CN: Core Network

EPC: Evolved Packet Core

MME: Mobile Management Entity

HSS: Home Subscriber Server

SGW: Serving Gateway

PS: Packet-Switched

CS: Circuit-Switched

EPS: Evolved Packet-Switched System

RRC: Radio Resource Control

IE: Information Element

QoS: Quality of Service

QoE: Quality of Experience

TFT: Traffic Flow Template

RSVP: Resource ReSerVation Protocol

API: Application programming interface

Terms

The following is a glossary of terms used in this disclosure:

Memory Medium—Any of various types of non-transitory memory devices orstorage devices. The term “memory medium” is intended to include aninstallation medium, e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks, or tape device; acomputer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM,SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; a non-volatile memory such as a Flash,magnetic media, e.g., a hard drive, or optical storage; registers, orother similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium mayinclude other types of non-transitory memory as well or combinationsthereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a firstcomputer system in which the programs are executed, or may be located ina second different computer system which connects to the first computersystem over a network, such as the Internet. In the latter instance, thesecond computer system may provide program instructions to the firstcomputer for execution. The term “memory medium” may include two or morememory mediums which may reside in different locations, e.g., indifferent computer systems that are connected over a network. The memorymedium may store program instructions (e.g., embodied as computerprograms) that may be executed by one or more processors.

Carrier Medium—a memory medium as described above, as well as a physicaltransmission medium, such as a bus, network, and/or other physicaltransmission medium that conveys signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals.

Programmable Hardware Element—includes various hardware devicescomprising multiple programmable function blocks connected via aprogrammable interconnect. Examples include FPGAs (Field ProgrammableGate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), FPOAs (FieldProgrammable Object Arrays), and CPLDs (Complex PLDs). The programmablefunction blocks may range from fine grained (combinatorial logic or lookup tables) to coarse grained (arithmetic logic units or processorcores). A programmable hardware element may also be referred to as“reconfigurable logic”.

Computer System—any of various types of computing or processing systems,including a personal computer system (PC), mainframe computer system,workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance, personal digitalassistant (PDA), television system, grid computing system, or otherdevice or combinations of devices. In general, the term “computersystem” can be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combinationof devices) having at least one processor that executes instructionsfrom a memory medium.

User Equipment (UE) (or “UE Device”)—any of various types of computersystems devices which are mobile or portable and which performs wirelesscommunications. Examples of UE devices include mobile telephones orsmart phones (e.g., iPhone™ Android™-based phones), portable gamingdevices (e.g., Nintendo DS™, PlayStation Portable™, Gameboy Advance™,iPhone™), laptops, wearable devices (e.g. smart watch, smart glasses),PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices, orother handheld devices, etc. In general, the term “UE” or “UE device”can be broadly defined to encompass any electronic, computing, and/ortelecommunications device (or combination of devices) which is easilytransported by a user and capable of wireless communication.

Wireless Device—any of various types of computer system devices whichperforms wireless communications. A wireless device can be portable (ormobile) or may be stationary or fixed at a certain location. A UE is anexample of a wireless device.

Communication Device—any of various types of computer systems or devicesthat perform communications, where the communications can be wired orwireless. A communication device can be portable (or mobile) or may bestationary or fixed at a certain location. A wireless device is anexample of a communication device. A UE is another example of acommunication device.

Base Station—The term “Base Station” has the full breadth of itsordinary meaning, and at least includes a wireless communication stationinstalled at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of awireless telephone system or radio system.

Processing Element—refers to various elements or combinations ofelements that are capable of performing a function in a device, such asa user equipment or a cellular network device. Processing elements mayinclude, for example: processors and associated memory, portions orcircuits of individual processor cores, entire processor cores,processor arrays, circuits such as an ASIC (Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit), programmable hardware elements such as a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), as well any of various combinations ofthe above.

Channel—a medium used to convey information from a sender (transmitter)to a receiver. It should be noted that since characteristics of the term“channel” may differ according to different wireless protocols, the term“channel” as used herein may be considered as being used in a mannerthat is consistent with the standard of the type of device withreference to which the term is used. In some standards, channel widthsmay be variable (e.g., depending on device capability, band conditions,etc.). For example, LTE may support scalable channel bandwidths from 1.4MHz to 20 MHz. In contrast, WLAN channels may be 22 MHz wide whileBluetooth channels may be 1 Mhz wide. Other protocols and standards mayinclude different definitions of channels. Furthermore, some standardsmay define and use multiple types of channels, e.g., different channelsfor uplink or downlink and/or different channels for different uses suchas data, control information, etc.

Band—The term “band” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning, andat least includes a section of spectrum (e.g., radio frequency spectrum)in which channels are used or set aside for the same purpose.

Automatically—refers to an action or operation performed by a computersystem (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or device (e.g.,circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASICs, etc.), without userinput directly specifying or performing the action or operation. Thus,the term “automatically” is in contrast to an operation being manuallyperformed or specified by the user, where the user provides input todirectly perform the operation. An automatic procedure may be initiatedby input provided by the user, but the subsequent actions that areperformed “automatically” are not specified by the user, i.e., are notperformed “manually”, where the user specifies each action to perform.For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting eachfield and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typinginformation, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is fillingout the form manually, even though the computer system must update theform in response to the user actions. The form may be automaticallyfilled out by the computer system where the computer system (e.g.,software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of theform and fills in the form without any user input specifying the answersto the fields. As indicated above, the user may invoke the automaticfilling of the form, but is not involved in the actual filling of theform (e.g., the user is not manually specifying answers to fields butrather they are being automatically completed). The presentspecification provides various examples of operations beingautomatically performed in response to actions the user has taken.

Approximately—refers to a value that is almost correct or exact. Forexample, approximately may refer to a value that is within 1 to 10percent of the exact (or desired) value. It should be noted, however,that the actual threshold value (or tolerance) may be applicationdependent. For example, in some embodiments, “approximately” may meanwithin 0.1% of some specified or desired value, while in various otherembodiments, the threshold may be, for example, 2%, 3%, 5%, and soforth, as desired or as required by the particular application.

Concurrent—refers to parallel execution or performance, where tasks,processes, or programs are performed in an at least partiallyoverlapping manner. For example, concurrency may be implemented using“strong” or strict parallelism, where tasks are performed (at leastpartially) in parallel on respective computational elements, or using“weak parallelism”, where the tasks are performed in an interleavedmanner, e.g., by time multiplexing of execution threads.

Configured to—Various components may be described as “configured to”perform a task or tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broadrecitation generally meaning “having structure that” performs the taskor tasks during operation. As such, the component can be configured toperform the task even when the component is not currently performingthat task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors may be configured toelectrically connect a module to another module, even when the twomodules are not connected). In some contexts, “configured to” may be abroad recitation of structure generally meaning “having circuitry that”performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the component canbe configured to perform the task even when the component is notcurrently on. In general, the circuitry that forms the structurecorresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuits.

Various components may be described as performing a task or tasks, forconvenience in the description. Such descriptions should be interpretedas including the phrase “configured to.” Reciting a component that isconfigured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not toinvoke 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) interpretation for that component.

FIGS. 1 and 2 —Communication System

FIG. 1 illustrates a simplified example wireless communication system,according to some embodiments. It is noted that the system of FIG. 1 ismerely one example of a possible system, and that features of thisdisclosure may be implemented in any of various systems, as desired.

As shown, the example wireless communication system includes a basestation 102 which communicates over a transmission medium with one ormore user devices 106A, 106B, etc., through 106N. Each of the userdevices may be referred to herein as a “user equipment” (UE). Thus, theuser devices 106 are referred to as UEs or UE devices.

The base station (BS) 102 may be a base transceiver station (BTS) orcell site (a “cellular base station”), and may include hardware thatenables wireless communication with the UEs 106A through 106N.

The communication area (or coverage area) of the base station may bereferred to as a “cell.” The base station 102 and the UEs 106 may beconfigured to communicate over the transmission medium using any ofvarious radio access technologies (RATs), also referred to as wirelesscommunication technologies, or telecommunication standards, such as GSM,UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces),LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), 5G new radio (5G NR), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000(e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc. Note that if the base station102 is implemented in the context of LTE, it may alternately be referredto as an ‘eNodeB’ or ‘eNB’. Note that if the base station 102 isimplemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternately be referred toas gNodeB′ or gNB′.

As shown, the base station 102 may also be equipped to communicate witha network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, atelecommunication network such as a public switched telephone network(PSTN), and/or the Internet, among various possibilities). Thus, thebase station 102 may facilitate communication between the user devicesand/or between the user devices and the network 100. In particular, thecellular base station 102 may provide UEs 106 with varioustelecommunication capabilities, such as voice, SMS and/or data services.

Base station 102 and other similar base stations operating according tothe same or a different cellular communication standard may thus beprovided as a network of cells, which may provide continuous or nearlycontinuous overlapping service to UEs 106A-N and similar devices over ageographic area via one or more cellular communication standards.

Thus, while base station 102 may act as a “serving cell” for UEs 106A-Nas illustrated in FIG. 1 , each UE 106 may also be capable of receivingsignals from (and possibly within communication range of) one or moreother cells (which might be provided by other base stations 102B-N),which may be referred to as “neighboring cells”. Such cells may also becapable of facilitating communication between user devices and/orbetween user devices and the network 100. Such cells may include “macro”cells, “micro” cells, “pico” cells, and/or cells which provide any ofvarious other granularities of service area size. Other configurationsare also possible.

In some embodiments, base station 102 may be a next generation basestation, e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or “gNB”. In someembodiments, a gNB may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core(EPC) network and/or to a NR core (NRC) network. In addition, a gNB cellmay include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). Inaddition, a UE capable of operating according to 5G NR may be connectedto one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

Note that a UE 106 may be capable of communicating using multiplewireless communication standards. For example, the UE 106 may beconfigured to communicate using a wireless networking (e.g., Wi-Fi)and/or peer-to-peer wireless communication protocol (e.g., Bluetooth,Wi-Fi peer-to-peer, etc.) in addition to at least one cellularcommunication protocol (e.g., GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example,WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, HSPA, 3GPP2CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc.). The UE 106 may alsoor alternatively be configured to communicate using one or more globalnavigational satellite systems (GNSS, e.g., GPS or GLONASS), one or moremobile television broadcasting standards (e.g., ATSC-M/H), and/or anyother wireless communication protocol, if desired. Other combinations ofwireless communication standards (including more than two wirelesscommunication standards) are also possible.

FIG. 2 illustrates user equipment 106 (e.g., one of the devices 106Athrough 106N) in communication with a base station 102, according tosome embodiments. The UE 106 may be a device with cellular communicationcapability such as a mobile phone, a hand-held device, a computer or atablet, or virtually any type of wireless device.

The UE 106 may include a processor that is configured to execute programinstructions stored in memory. The UE 106 may perform any of the methodembodiments described herein by executing such stored instructions.Alternatively, or in addition, the UE 106 may include a programmablehardware element such as an FPGA (field-programmable gate array) that isconfigured to perform any of the method embodiments described herein, orany portion of any of the method embodiments described herein.

The UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using oneor more wireless communication protocols or technologies. In someembodiments, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using, forexample, CDMA2000 (1×RTT/1×EV-DO/HRPD/eHRPD) or LTE using a singleshared radio and/or GSM or LTE using the single shared radio. The sharedradio may couple to a single antenna, or may couple to multiple antennas(e.g., for multiple-input, multiple-output or “MIMO”) for performingwireless communications. In general, a radio may include any combinationof a baseband processor, analog RF signal processing circuitry (e.g.,including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or digitalprocessing circuitry (e.g., for digital modulation as well as otherdigital processing). Similarly, the radio may implement one or morereceive and transmit chains using the aforementioned hardware. Forexample, the UE 106 may share one or more parts of a receive and/ortransmit chain between multiple wireless communication technologies,such as those discussed above.

In some embodiments, the UE 106 may include any number of antennas andmay be configured to use the antennas to transmit and/or receivedirectional wireless signals (e.g., beams). Similarly, the BS 102 mayalso include any number of antennas and may be configured to use theantennas to transmit and/or receive directional wireless signals (e.g.,beams). To receive and/or transmit such directional signals, theantennas of the UE 106 and/or BS 102 may be configured to applydifferent “weight” to different antennas. The process of applying thesedifferent weights may be referred to as “precoding”.

In some embodiments, the UE 106 may include separate transmit and/orreceive chains (e.g., including separate antennas and other radiocomponents) for each wireless communication protocol with which it isconfigured to communicate. As a further possibility, the UE 106 mayinclude one or more radios which are shared between multiple wirelesscommunication protocols, and one or more radios which are usedexclusively by a single wireless communication protocol. For example,the UE 106 might include a shared radio for communicating using eitherof LTE or 5G NR (or LTE or 1×RTT or LTE or GSM), and separate radios forcommunicating using each of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Other configurationsare also possible.

FIG. 3 —Block Diagram of a UE

FIG. 3 illustrates an example simplified block diagram of acommunication device 106, according to some embodiments. It is notedthat the block diagram of the communication device of FIG. 3 is only oneexample of a possible communication device. According to embodiments,communication device 106 may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobiledevice or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, adesktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., alaptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet and/or acombination of devices, among other devices. As shown, the communicationdevice 106 may include a set of components 300 configured to performcore functions. For example, this set of components may be implementedas a system on chip (SOC), which may include portions for variouspurposes. Alternatively, this set of components 300 may be implementedas separate components or groups of components for the various purposes.The set of components 300 may be coupled (e.g., communicatively;directly or indirectly) to various other circuits of the communicationdevice 106.

For example, the communication device 106 may include various types ofmemory (e.g., including NAND flash 310), an input/output interface suchas connector I/F 320 (e.g., for connecting to a computer system; dock;charging station; input devices, such as a microphone, camera, keyboard;output devices, such as speakers; etc.), the display 360, which may beintegrated with or external to the communication device 106, andcellular communication circuitry 330 such as for 5G NR, LTE, GSM, etc.,and short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 329 (e.g.,Bluetooth™ and WLAN circuitry). In some embodiments, communicationdevice 106 may include wired communication circuitry (not shown), suchas a network interface card, e.g., for Ethernet.

The cellular communication circuitry 330 may couple (e.g.,communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, suchas antennas 335 and 336 as shown. The short to medium range wirelesscommunication circuitry 329 may also couple (e.g., communicatively;directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antennas 337and 338 as shown. Alternatively, the short to medium range wirelesscommunication circuitry 329 may couple (e.g., communicatively; directlyor indirectly) to the antennas 335 and 336 in addition to, or insteadof, coupling (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to theantennas 337 and 338. The short to medium range wireless communicationcircuitry 329 and/or cellular communication circuitry 330 may includemultiple receive chains and/or multiple transmit chains for receivingand/or transmitting multiple spatial streams, such as in amultiple-input multiple output (MIMO) configuration.

In some embodiments, as further described below, cellular communicationcircuitry 330 may include dedicated receive chains (including and/orcoupled to, e.g., communicatively, directly or indirectly, dedicatedprocessors and/or radios) for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chainfor LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). In addition, in someembodiments, cellular communication circuitry 330 may include a singletransmit chain that may be switched between radios dedicated to specificRATs. For example, a first radio may be dedicated to a first RAT, e.g.,LTE, and may be in communication with a dedicated receive chain and atransmit chain shared with an additional radio, e.g., a second radiothat may be dedicated to a second RAT, e.g., 5G NR, and may be incommunication with a dedicated receive chain and the shared transmitchain.

The communication device 106 may also include and/or be configured foruse with one or more user interface elements. The user interfaceelements may include any of various elements, such as display 360 (whichmay be a touchscreen display), a keyboard (which may be a discretekeyboard or may be implemented as part of a touchscreen display), amouse, a microphone and/or speakers, one or more cameras, one or morebuttons, and/or any of various other elements capable of providinginformation to a user and/or receiving or interpreting user input.

The communication device 106 may further include one or more smart cards345 that include SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) functionality, such asone or more UICC(s) (Universal Integrated Circuit Card(s)) cards 345.

As shown, the SOC 300 may include processor(s) 302, which may executeprogram instructions for the communication device 106 and displaycircuitry 304, which may perform graphics processing and provide displaysignals to the display 360. The processor(s) 302 may also be coupled tomemory management unit (MMU) 340, which may be configured to receiveaddresses from the processor(s) 302 and translate those addresses tolocations in memory (e.g., memory 306, read only memory (ROM) 350, NANDflash memory 310) and/or to other circuits or devices, such as thedisplay circuitry 304, short range wireless communication circuitry 229,cellular communication circuitry 330, connector I/F 320, and/or display360. The MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protection and pagetable translation or set up. In some embodiments, the MMU 340 may beincluded as a portion of the processor(s) 302.

As noted above, the communication device 106 may be configured tocommunicate using wireless and/or wired communication circuitry. Thecommunication device 106 may be configured to transmit a request toattach to a first network node operating according to the first RAT andtransmit an indication that the wireless device is capable ofmaintaining substantially concurrent connections with the first networknode and a second network node that operates according to the secondRAT. The wireless device may also be configured transmit a request toattach to the second network node. The request may include an indicationthat the wireless device is capable of maintaining substantiallyconcurrent connections with the first and second network nodes. Further,the wireless device may be configured to receive an indication that dualconnectivity (DC) with the first and second network nodes has beenestablished.

As described herein, the communication device 106 may include hardwareand software components for implementing features for using multiplexingto perform transmissions according to multiple radio access technologiesin the same frequency carrier (e.g., and/or multiple frequencycarriers), as well as the various other techniques described herein. Theprocessor 302 of the communication device 106 may be configured toimplement part or all of the features described herein, e.g., byexecuting program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., anon-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or inaddition), processor 302 may be configured as a programmable hardwareelement, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC(Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or inaddition) the processor 302 of the communication device 106, inconjunction with one or more of the other components 300, 304, 306, 310,320, 329, 330, 340, 345, 350, 360 may be configured to implement part orall of the features described herein.

In addition, as described herein, processor 302 may include one or moreprocessing elements. Thus, processor 302 may include one or moreintegrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functionsof processor 302. In addition, each integrated circuit may includecircuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured toperform the functions of processor(s) 302.

Further, as described herein, cellular communication circuitry 330 andshort range wireless communication circuitry 329 may each include one ormore processing elements and/or processors. In other words, one or moreprocessing elements or processors may be included in cellularcommunication circuitry 330 and, similarly, one or more processingelements or processors may be included in short range wirelesscommunication circuitry 329. Thus, cellular communication circuitry 330may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured toperform the functions of cellular communication circuitry 330. Inaddition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., firstcircuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functionsof cellular communication circuitry 330. Similarly, the short rangewireless communication circuitry 329 may include one or more ICs thatare configured to perform the functions of short range wirelesscommunication circuitry 329. In addition, each integrated circuit mayinclude circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.)configured to perform the functions of short range wirelesscommunication circuitry 329.

FIG. 4 —Block Diagram of a Base Station

FIG. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a base station 102,according to some embodiments. It is noted that the base station of FIG.4 is merely one example of a possible base station. As shown, the basestation 102 may include processor(s) 404 which may execute programinstructions for the base station 102. The processor(s) 404 may also becoupled to memory management unit (MMU) 440, which may be configured toreceive addresses from the processor(s) 404 and translate thoseaddresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read only memory(ROM) 450) or to other circuits or devices.

The base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. Thenetwork port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network andprovide a plurality of devices, such as UE devices 106, access to thetelephone network as described above in FIGS. 1 and 2 .

The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also oralternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, e.g., acore network of a cellular service provider. The core network mayprovide mobility related services and/or other services to a pluralityof devices, such as UE devices 106. In some cases, the network port 470may couple to a telephone network via the core network, and/or the corenetwork may provide a telephone network (e.g., among other UE devicesserviced by the cellular service provider).

In some embodiments, base station 102 may be a next generation basestation, e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or “gNB”. In suchembodiments, base station 102 may be connected to a legacy evolvedpacket core (EPC) network and/or to a NR core (NRC) network. Inaddition, base station 102 may be considered a 5G NR cell and mayinclude one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). In addition,a UE capable of operating according to 5G NR may be connected to one ormore TRPs within one or more gNB s.

The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434, and possiblymultiple antennas. The radio 430 and at least one antenna 434 may beconfigured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may be furtherconfigured to communicate with UE devices 106. The antenna 434 maycommunicate with the radio 430 via communication chain 432.Communication chain 432 may be a receive chain, a transmit chain orboth. The radio 430 may be configured to communicate via variouswireless communication standards, including, but not limited to, 5G NR,LTE, LTE-A, GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi, etc.

The base station 102 may be configured to communicate wirelessly usingmultiple wireless communication standards. In some instances, the basestation 102 may include multiple radios, which may enable the basestation 102 to communicate according to multiple wireless communicationtechnologies. For example, as one possibility, the base station 102 mayinclude an LTE radio for performing communication according to LTE aswell as a 5G NR radio for performing communication according to 5G NR.In such a case, the base station 102 may be capable of operating as bothan LTE base station and a 5G NR base station. As another possibility,the base station 102 may include a multi-mode radio which is capable ofperforming communications according to any of multiple wirelesscommunication technologies (e.g., 5G NR and Wi-Fi, LTE and Wi-Fi, LTEand UMTS, LTE and CDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.).

As described further subsequently herein, the BS 102 may includehardware and software components for implementing or supportingimplementation of features described herein. The processor 404 of thebase station 102 may be configured to implement or supportimplementation of part or all of the methods described herein, e.g., byexecuting program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., anon-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, theprocessor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, suchas an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit), or a combination thereof. Alternatively(or in addition) the processor 404 of the BS 102, in conjunction withone or more of the other components 430, 432, 434, 440, 450, 460, 470may be configured to implement or support implementation of part or allof the features described herein.

In addition, as described herein, processor(s) 404 may include one ormore processing elements. Thus, processor(s) 404 may include one or moreintegrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functionsof processor(s) 404. In addition, each integrated circuit may includecircuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured toperform the functions of processor(s) 404.

Further, as described herein, radio 430 may include one or moreprocessing elements. Thus, radio 430 may include one or more integratedcircuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of radio430. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g.,first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform thefunctions of radio 430.

FIG. 5 —Block Diagram of Cellular Communication Circuitry

FIG. 5 illustrates an example simplified block diagram of cellularcommunication circuitry, according to some embodiments. It is noted thatthe block diagram of the cellular communication circuitry of FIG. 5 isonly one example of a possible cellular communication circuit; othercircuits, such as circuits including or coupled to sufficient antennasfor different RATs to perform uplink activities using separate antennas,are also possible. According to embodiments, cellular communicationcircuitry 330 may be included in a communication device, such ascommunication device 106 described above. As noted above, communicationdevice 106 may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device ormobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktopcomputer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop,notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet and/or a combinationof devices, among other devices.

The cellular communication circuitry 330 may couple (e.g.,communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, suchas antennas 335 a-b and 336 as shown (in FIG. 3 ). In some embodiments,cellular communication circuitry 330 may include dedicated receivechains (including and/or coupled to, e.g., communicatively, directly orindirectly, dedicated processors and/or radios) for multiple RATs (e.g.,a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). Forexample, as shown in FIG. 5 , cellular communication circuitry 330 mayinclude a modem 510 and a modem 520. Modem 510 may be configured forcommunications according to a first RAT, e.g., such as LTE or LTE-A, andmodem 520 may be configured for communications according to a secondRAT, e.g., such as 5G NR.

As shown, modem 510 may include one or more processors 512 and a memory516 in communication with processors 512. Modem 510 may be incommunication with a radio frequency (RF) front end 530. RF front end530 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals.For example, RF front end 530 may include receive circuitry (RX) 532 andtransmit circuitry (TX) 534. In some embodiments, receive circuitry 532may be in communication with downlink (DL) front end 550, which mayinclude circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna 335 a.

Similarly, modem 520 may include one or more processors 522 and a memory526 in communication with processors 522. Modem 520 may be incommunication with an RF front end 540. RF front end 540 may includecircuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, RFfront end 540 may include receive circuitry 542 and transmit circuitry544. In some embodiments, receive circuitry 542 may be in communicationwith DL front end 560, which may include circuitry for receiving radiosignals via antenna 335 b.

In some embodiments, a switch (e.g., and/or combiner, multiplexer, etc.)570 may couple transmit circuitry 534 to uplink (UL) front end 572. Inaddition, switch 570 may couple transmit circuitry 544 to UL front end572. UL front end 572 may include circuitry for transmitting radiosignals via antenna 336. Thus, when cellular communication circuitry 330receives instructions to transmit according to the first RAT (e.g., assupported via modem 510), switch 570 may be switched to a first statethat allows modem 510 to transmit signals according to the first RAT(e.g., via a transmit chain that includes transmit circuitry 534 and ULfront end 572). Similarly, when cellular communication circuitry 330receives instructions to transmit according to the second RAT (e.g., assupported via modem 520), switch 570 may be switched to a second statethat allows modem 520 to transmit signals according to the second RAT(e.g., via a transmit chain that includes transmit circuitry 544 and ULfront end 572).

In some embodiments, modem 510 and modem 520 may be configured totransmit at the same time, receive at the same time, and/or transmit andreceive at the same time. Thus, when cellular communication circuitry330 receives instructions to transmit according to both the first RAT(e.g., as supported via modem 510) and the second RAT (e.g., assupported via modem 520), combiner 570 may be switched to a third statethat allows modems 510 and 520 to transmit signals according to thefirst and second RATs (e.g., via a transmit circuitry 534 and 544 and ULfront end 572). In other words, the modems may coordinate communicationactivity, and each may perform transmit and/or receive functions at anytime, as desired.

In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry 330 may beconfigured to transmit, via the first modem while the switch is in thefirst state, a request to attach to a first network node operatingaccording to the first RAT and transmit, via the first modem while theswitch is in a first state, an indication that the wireless device iscapable of maintaining substantially concurrent connections with thefirst network node and a second network node that operates according tothe second RAT. The wireless device may also be configured transmit, viathe second radio while the switch is in a second state, a request toattach to the second network node. The request may include an indicationthat the wireless device is capable of maintaining substantiallyconcurrent connections with the first and second network nodes. Further,the wireless device may be configured to receive, via the first radio,an indication that dual connectivity with the first and second networknodes has been established.

As described herein, the modem 510 may include hardware and softwarecomponents for implementing features for using multiplexing to performtransmissions according to multiple radio access technologies in thesame frequency carrier, as well as the various other techniquesdescribed herein. The processors 512 may be configured to implement partor all of the features described herein, e.g., by executing programinstructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition),processor 512 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, suchas an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or in addition) theprocessor 512, in conjunction with one or more of the other components530, 532, 534, 550, 570, 572, 335 and 336 may be configured to implementpart or all of the features described herein.

In some embodiments, processor(s) 512, 522, etc. may be configured toimplement or support implementation of part or all of the methodsdescribed herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on amemory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium).Alternatively, the processor(s) 512, 522, etc. may be configured as aprogrammable hardware element, such as an FPGA, or as an ASIC, or acombination thereof. In addition, as described herein, processor(s) 512,522, etc. may include one or more processing elements. Thus,processor(s) 512, 522, etc. may include one or more integrated circuits(ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of processor(s) 512,522, etc. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry(e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to performthe functions of processor(s) 512, 522, etc.

As described herein, the modem 520 may include hardware and softwarecomponents for implementing features for using multiplexing to performtransmissions according to multiple radio access technologies in thesame frequency carrier, as well as the various other techniquesdescribed herein. The processors 522 may be configured to implement partor all of the features described herein, e.g., by executing programinstructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition),processor 522 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, suchas an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or in addition) theprocessor 522, in conjunction with one or more of the other components540, 542, 544, 550, 570, 572, 335 and 336 may be configured to implementpart or all of the features described herein.

FIGS. 6-7 —5G NR Architecture

In some implementations, fifth generation (5G) wireless communicationwill initially be deployed concurrently with other wirelesscommunication standards (e.g., LTE). For example, whereas FIG. 6illustrates a possible standalone (SA) implementation of a nextgeneration core (NGC) network 606 and 5G NR base station (e.g., gNB604), dual connectivity between LTE and 5G new radio (5G NR or NR), suchas in accordance with the exemplary non-standalone (NSA) architectureillustrated in FIG. 7 , has been specified as part of the initialdeployment of NR. Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 7 , evolved packet core(EPC) network 600 may continue to communicate with current LTE basestations (e.g., eNB 602). In addition, eNB 602 may be in communicationwith a 5G NR base station (e.g., gNB 604) and may pass data between theEPC network 600 and gNB 604. In some instances, the gNB 604 may alsohave at least a user plane reference point with EPC network 600. Thus,EPC network 600 may be used (or reused) and gNB 604 may serve as extracapacity for UEs, e.g., for providing increased downlink throughput toUEs. In other words, LTE may be used for control plane signaling and NRmay be used for user plane signaling. Thus, LTE may be used to establishconnections to the network and NR may be used for data services. As willbe appreciated, numerous other non-standalone architecture variants arepossible.

FIG. 8 —Uplink Control Information (UCI) Collision Handling

In some embodiments, 5G NR networks may be designed to support threemain service categories: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB),Ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC), and massive machinetype communication (mMTC). These different service categories may havesignificantly different latency requirements and reliabilityrequirements. As one example, the latency and/or reliability targets fortwo services e.g., eMBB and URLLC may be summarized as follows. ForeMBB, average latency of less than 4 ms (e.g., in the downlink (DL)and/or uplink (UL) directions) may be desired, while, for URLLC, averagelatency of less than 0.5 ms (e.g., DL and/or UL) may be desired.Further, for eMBB, the desired reliability target may be a block errorrate (BLER) of less than 0.1 in contrast to URLLC, which may have atarget BLER of 0.000001. In other words, the latency and reliabilitytargets/requirements for URLLC service may be many times higher (e.g.,stricter or more stringent) than for eMBB service. Notably, eMBB mayinstead focus on high throughput applications (e.g., gaming, streaming),in contrast to URLLC which may focus on high reliability and minimallatency use cases (e.g. factory automations, vehicular automation, andremote surgery, etc.). It will be appreciated that in this disclosure,for ease of explanation phrases similar to “high (e.g., or higher)reliability targets” may be used to refer to either or both of high(er)reliability and/or low(er) latency; phrases similar to “low(er)reliability targets” may refer to lower reliability and/or higherlatency. Thus, eMBB may have higher throughput targets than URLLC, whichmay have higher reliability targets (e.g., including lower latencytargets) than eMMB.

Accordingly, for a UE 106 communicating according to multiple servicecategories, reliability and latency targets may vary significantly.Further, the targets of UCI transmitted on physical uplink sharedchannel (PUSCH) may differ significantly from targets for PUSCH data.The reliability and latency targets on UCI may either be higher than thetargets on the PUSCH data or may be lower. For example, whentransmitting UL hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgements(ACK) or negative acknowledgement (NACK) (e.g., PUCCH) for DL URLLC dataat the same time as transmitting UL eMBB data (e.g., PUSCH), areliability target for the HARQ-ACK for URLLC PUSCH may be higher.Conversely, when transmitting CQI reporting (e.g., PUCCH) for eMBB atthe same time with URLLC data (e.g., PUSCH), the UCI (e.g., CQI reportin this example) reliability target may be lower than the reliabilitytarget for the PUSCH of URLLC service.

Accordingly, how to design a UCI transmission scheme (e.g., on PhysicalUplink Control Channel (PUCCH) or PUSCH) with different service typesmay be a critical issue to achieve efficient 5G NR UL resourceutilization for mixed service type use cases. Further, it may bebeneficial to design such a scheme to avoid excessive UL controloverhead, e.g., to ensure the best throughput performance of eMBB, butstill meet the stringent reliability/latency targets of URLLC.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram which illustrates exemplary aspects of a schemefor transmitting information (e.g., UCI). The techniques of FIG. 8 mayallow for a UE to categorize and prioritize transmissions, e.g., toefficiently use resources and to meet reliability targets of variousservice types. Notably, the techniques of FIG. 8 may allow for a UE toperform this categorization and prioritization at a low level, e.g., ata physical (PHY) layer, e.g., thus avoiding or minimizing processingdelay associated with performing such functions at a higher layer (e.g.,Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer). Aspects of the method of FIG. 8 maybe implemented by a UE 106 in communication with a BS 102, asillustrated in and described with respect to the Figures, or moregenerally in conjunction with any of the computer circuitry, systems,devices, elements, or components shown in the Figures, among otherdevices, as desired. For example, a processor (or processors) of the UE(e.g., processor(s) 302, processor(s) associated with communicationcircuitry 329 or 330 such as processor(s) 512 and/or 522, etc.), basestation (e.g., processor(s) 404, or a processor associated with radio430 and/or communication chain 432, among various possibilities), ornetwork element (e.g., any component of NGC 606, EPC 600, etc.) maycause the UE or base station(s) to perform some or all of theillustrated method elements. For example, a baseband processor of the UEmay cause the UE to perform some or all of the illustrated methodelements. Note that while at least some elements of the method aredescribed in a manner relating to the use of communication techniquesand/or features associated with 3GPP specification documents, suchdescription is not intended to be limiting to the disclosure, andaspects of the method may be used in any suitable wireless communicationsystem, as desired. Further, the method may be applied in other contexts(e.g., between multiple UEs, e.g., in device-to-device communications).Similarly, note that while at least some elements of the method aredescribed in a manner relating to UL transmissions, such description isnot intended to be limiting to the disclosure, and aspects of the methodmay be used in UL and/or DL communications, as desired. In variousembodiments, some of the elements of the methods shown may be performedconcurrently, in a different order than shown, may be substituted for byother method elements, or may be omitted. Additional method elements mayalso be performed as desired. As shown, the method may operate asfollows.

A UE 106 may establish a connection with a BS 102 (802), according tosome embodiments. The connection may be or include a cellularconnection, e.g., operating according to one or more wireless standards.The connection may include a WLAN connection, e.g., in addition to orinstead of a cellular connection, according to some embodiments.Alternatively, or additionally, the connection may include a cellularconnection using unlicensed spectrum.

The UE and BS may exchange data and/or control information, e.g., in theUL and/or DL directions. For example, the BS may use radio resourcecontrol (RRC) signaling (and/or other higher layer signaling) toconfigure the UE to categorize and/or prioritize various transmissionsaccording to the techniques described herein. Such configuration mayinclude any of various details, information, etc. For example, priorityinformation for various types of (e.g., Type 2, as discussed furtherbelow) UL transmissions, may be provided. Similarly, code rateinformation for various types of UL transmissions may be provided.

In some embodiments, the UE may indicate one or more characteristics ofthe UE such as UE capability information to the BS. For example, the UEmay transmit an indication of a minimum processing time (e.g., N′symbols) of a UL transmission of a higher priority (e.g., PUSCHassociated with URLLC services). For example, N′ may represent theprocessing time for a URLLC data transmission in symbols. Further, theUE may transmit a separate value d>=0, indicating an additional amountof time (e.g., measured in symbols) on top of N′ symbols that isnecessary to perform operations as further described below, e.g., todrop or interrupt the overlapped uplink transmissions of a lowerpriority. Such an indication may be signaled as part of the UEcapability information. Alternatively, some parameters (e.g., d value)may be hard-encoded and predefined in 3GPP specification or otherstandard document, and therefore may not be indicated to the network bythe UE, according to some embodiments.

The network and/or BS may schedule UL transmission subject to theindication of the minimum processing time (e.g., N=N′+d) from the UE.For example, the network may schedule DL transmissions to the UE at afirst time such that the UE (e.g., accounting for processing time) maybe expected to respond with HARQ-ACK bits at an appropriate time (e.g.,on appropriate PUSCH and/or PUCCH resources) consistent with theindicated N′ and d values.

The UE 106 may group one or more (e.g., UL) transmissions (804),according to some embodiments. The transmissions may be grouped based onpriority level and/or transmission type, among various possibilities.The transmissions may be grouped, e.g., at a physical (PHY) layer, orother lower layer, of the UE. For example, an application layer of theUE may generate the transmissions and provide the transmissions to thelower layer for transmission. The lower layer may perform the groupingand/or other functions prior to transmission. The UE may grouptransmissions according to priority level, e.g., a UE may determinerespective priority levels for respective transmissions a plurality oftransmissions, and divide/sort the plurality of transmissions intogroups based on the respective priority levels. In other words, for atransmission of a slot, the UE may determine a priority level and addthe transmission to a group corresponding to the priority level.

For example, the priority level may be associated with various servicetypes, e.g. 5G service types. For example, ULRRC transmissions may beassociated with a first priority level, eMBB transmissions may beassociated with a second priority level, and mMTC communications may beassociated with a third priority level. In some embodiments, ULRRCtransmissions may be assigned a higher priority than eMBB or mMTCcommunications. Furthermore, UL transmission with eMBB may be assignedwith a higher priority than that of mMTC. In some embodiments,additional or different priority levels may be associated with otherattributes (e.g., application type, etc.).

In some embodiments, in order to group the transmissions by priority,the transmissions may be first categorized into two categories/types,e.g., depending on whether there is a Downlink Control Information (DCI)format associated with the transmissions (e.g., a DCI format may beassociated with one or more UL channel, or vice versa). For example, thetwo types may be referred to as Category or Type 1 (hereinafter“Category 1”) and Category or Type 2 (hereinafter “Category 2” ULtransmissions.

Category 1 UL transmissions may include HARQ-ACK information, AperiodicChannel State Information (A-CSI), and/or PUSCH (e.g., dynamicscheduling based and/or Type 1 Configured Grant (CG) based), among otherexample transmissions.

Note that various 3GPP standards documents may describe Type 1 and/orType 2 configured grants (CG). Type 1 CGs may be grants for multiple UEsto share periodically allocated resources and may be signaled using RRC.Type 2 CGs may be configured by RRC, and activated and/or deactivatedusing L1 (e.g., PHY) signaling. It will be appreciated that, as usedherein, the terms Category 1 transmissions and Category 2 transmissionsare distinct from Type 1 CGs and Type 2 CGs.

The association between each Category 1 UL channel and respective DCIFormat is provided in Table 1.

Type of UL transmissions: HARQ-ACK A-CSI PUSCH Associated DCI DCI Format1-0 or 1-1; DCI Format 0-0 or 0-1; DCI Format 0-0 or format: schedulesthe corresponding triggers A-CSI report 0-1; schedules PUSCH physicaldownlink shared transmission and/or channel (PDSCH) or semi- activatesType-2 persistent scheduling (SPS) CG-PUSCH release that UE acknowledgesvia this HARQ-ACK (or NACK)

Category 2 UL transmissions may include all other UL transmissions thatare not associated with DCI formats, e.g., including scheduling requests(SRs), Periodic Channel State Information (P-CSI), and/or Type-1 and/orType-2 CG based PUSCH (CG-PUSCH).

A UE may, e.g., at a lower level such as a physical (PHY) layer,determine the priority level of a Category 1 UL transmissions based on aDCI format or an indication in a DCI format. For example, according tocertain aspects of this disclosure, the priority level of a Category 1UL transmission may be explicitly indicated by an information field (IE)in the associated DCI format. An example of such an indication isillustrated in FIG. 9 . A Priority Order Indicator (POI) may be 0 or Xbits. The number of priority orders may be related as 2^(X), rangingfrom 0 to 2^(X)−1. For example, if there are two priority levels (e.g.,a first level for URLLC and a second level for eMBB), then the length ofthe POI (e.g., X) may be 1 bit in order to indicate which of the twopriority levels is associated with the DL transmission. Similarly, ifthree levels are included, X may be 2 (e.g., POI may be X=2 bits longand 2^(X)−1=2²−1=3 priorities). Thus, based on the POI field of a DLtransmission, the UE may (e.g., at the PHY level, e.g., withoutconsulting higher levels such as an application layer or applicationprocessor) determine the priority level of a corresponding ULtransmission (e.g., UCI).

In some designs, the presence and number of bits of a POI field in theassociated DCI format (e.g., X value) may be configured by higherlayers. More specifically, the POI field may be not present (e.g., thePOI field may be 0 bits) for a UE that supports only one service type(e.g. eMBB or URLLC services, but not both), or for the case that onlyone service type is activated during a certain period. In other words,the BS may use the POI field in one or more DL transmissions to signalpriority to UEs if multiple priorities are configured for the UE (e.g.,at the same time or at overlapping times) and may not use the POI field(e.g., X=0) if only a single priority is configured for the UE. Forexample, the UL transmission of URLLC service may be indicated with ahigher priority, e.g., via POI or another indication, compared to thecorresponding eMBB service, if both of two services are activated at agiven UE.

The priority level of various types of Category 2 UL transmissions maybe configured by higher layers (e.g. RRC signaling) as part ofconfiguration (e.g., in 802). For example, priority levels may beassigned for one or more of: Type-1 CG PUSCH, SR transmission, and P-CSIreporting. The priority levels for these types of UL transmissions maybe the same or different. Thus, the PHY level of the UE may determinethe priority level of a category 2 UL transmission based on the type oftransmission, e.g., as indicated in the configuration information.

For example, a UE may determine that a UL transmission is not associatedwith DCI, e.g., determine that it is a Category 2 transmission. The UEmay determine a type of the transmission (e.g., Type-1 CG PUSCH, SRtransmission, or P-CSI reporting, or other types of UL transmissions notassociated with DCI), and based on the type of the transmission, the UEmay determine a priority level (e.g., based on configuration informationfor the type of transmission).

Thus, the UE may, e.g., at a PHY level, determine the priority level ofthe transmissions, e.g., of one or both of Category 1 and Category 2based on the POI and/or configuration information. The UE may group thetransmissions by priority level, e.g., by determining the prioritylevels of respective transmissions and comparing the priority levels.For example, a group of transmissions with a first priority level mayinclude any number of Category 1 UL transmissions (e.g., the prioritylevel of which may be determined based on respective POI, if multipleservices are active at the UE). Further, the group of transmissions withthe first priority level may include any number of Category 2 ULtransmissions (e.g., the priority level of which may be determined basedon respective types of the UL transmissions). In some embodiments, aCategory may be associated with how priority level is determined;Category may not directly indicate priority level.

The UE may detect and resolve any (e.g., inter-priority and/orintra-group) collisions (806), according to some embodiments. Acollision may be an instance when multiple transmissions are overlappedin the time domain. The UE may detect and resolve the collisions at thePHY level and/or another low level of the UE. For example, a basebandprocessor or modem of the UE may perform the processing necessary todetect and resolve the collisions independently of an application layeror other higher layer of the device. Example collision resolutionsinclude: delaying or dropping one or more transmission (e.g., schedulingthe transmission for a later time or not doing the transmission at all);stopping one or more transmission early (e.g., allowing for a second,higher priority transmission, to start); adjusting the amount(s) of timeand/or frequency resources allocated to one or more transmission (e.g.,decreasing the amount of resources for one transmission so that moreresources are available for a higher priority transmission, e.g., sothat the higher priority transmission may be performed with a code rateor MCS sufficient to meet a high reliability target (e.g., BLER lessthan a threshold)); and/or adjusting the start time of one or moretransmissions (e.g., so that low latency target transmissions may startearly enough to mee the latency target). It will be appreciated that thecollision resolution techniques described herein may apply to collisionsof one or more 5G service types. These collision resolution techniquesmay be applied on very small time scales, e.g., within a slot or a smallnumber of symbols, according to some embodiments.

As used herein, inter-priority or inter-group collisions may refer totransmissions of different priority levels (e.g., a group of one or moretransmissions of a first priority level colliding with a group of one ormore transmissions of a second priority level). For example, in the caseof collisions between groups with different priority levels (e.g., aninter-priority collision), transmission of the lower priority group(s)may be delayed (e.g., to a later symbol(s) within a slot and/or to alater slot(s)) to accommodate the transmission of the higher prioritygroup(s). An intra-group collision may refer to a collision betweenmultiple transmissions of a same priority level, e.g., within a group.For example, the UE may determine the resources (e.g., amount of timeand/or frequency resources and/or the location/time of the resources) touse for multiplexing transmissions within a group of transmissions,e.g., to resolve intra-group collisions. In some embodiments, sometransmissions (e.g., within the group) may be dropped or delayed, e.g.,based on an intra-group collision. Various procedures and/or rules forresolving collisions, e.g., within a slot, are discussed below.

A first procedure for resolving (e.g., inter-priority) collisions mayinclude dropping lower priority transmissions in order to prioritize (ortransmit) higher priority transmissions. For example, when there iscollision between transmissions with different priorities, thetransmission with lower priority order may be dropped or stopped early(e.g., starting from the first symbols overlapped with UL transmissionof higher priority orders). FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary slot (e.g.,with 14 symbols in the time domain, e.g., arranged along the horizontalaxis; the vertical axis may represent the frequency domain resources)with overlapping transmissions of two priority levels: a higher priority1 (P1) and a lower priority 2 (P2), according to some embodiments.

In some embodiments, the two P1 transmissions may form a first groupassociated with a same URLLC service type. For example, a first P1transmission (e.g., starting from the 4^(th) symbol) may be a PUCCHtransmission with HARQ-ACK and a second P1 transmission (e.g., startingfrom the 10^(th) symbol) may be a PUSCH transmission with A-CSItransmission. Similarly, the two P2 transmissions may form a secondgroup e.g. associated with the eMBB service type. A first P2transmission may be a PUCCH transmission with HARQ-ACK and another maybe a PUCCH with SR transmission. Transmissions may be multiplexed withineach of the groups according to processes described herein (e.g., seethe discussion of the various procedures for intra-group transmissionsdiscussed below). Further, transmissions may be multiplexed between thegroups under some circumstances.

In some embodiments, transmission of some or all of the P2 transmissionsmay be dropped based on the P1 transmissions, e.g., according to thefirst procedure. For example, the P2 transmissions may be stopped atsymbol 4, e.g., at the beginning of the transmission of the first P1transmission. In other words, the P1 transmissions may be grouped, andthe group of P1 transmissions may extend from the 4^(th) symbol through(e.g., including) the 12^(th) symbol. The group of P1 transmissions maybe higher priority than the group of P2 transmissions (e.g., which mayinclude transmissions for all symbols of the slot). The P2 transmissionsmay be performed during the first three symbols of the slot. The P2transmissions may be dropped (e.g., delayed for a later time) during the3^(rd) through 12^(th) symbols of the slot, e.g., to allow for thetransmission of the P1 group of transmissions. The P2 transmissions maybe resumed in the 13^(th) and 14^(th) symbols of the slot. Note that theP2 transmissions/data that would have been transmitted during the 3^(rd)through 12^(th) symbols may be transmitted beginning in the 13^(th) and14^(th) symbols, or at a later time (e.g., in a later slot(s)). In someembodiments, collision resolution (e.g., multiplexing) within each group(e.g., the P1 group individually and the P2 group individually) may beperformed according to one or more of the intra-group proceduresdiscussed herein, among various possibilities.

In some embodiments, the UE may allocate additional resources (e.g.,additional symbols such as the 13^(th) and 14^(th) symbol, etc.) to theP1 group, e.g., in order to meet reliability and/or latency targets forthe P1 group. For example, allocating additional resources to the P1group may allow the P1 transmissions to proceed using a lower modulationand coding scheme (MCS).

In some embodiments, the minimum processing time of the UL channel withthe higher priority order (e.g., P1, e.g., associated with URLLCservices) may be increased by a number, d, of symbols (e.g., d>=0),accounting for the interruption time for the dropping operation, e.g.,due to sharing the processing capability at the UE side. In other words,the processing of P1 transmissions may be slower by d symbols due to theprocessing to detect the collision and drop the P2 transmissions. Forexample, if processing transmissions would take 10 symbols withoutcomparing priority levels (e.g., N′=10), and processing transmissionsincluding comparing priority levels and dropping transmissions (e.g., ifan overlap is found) takes 11 symbols (e.g., N=N′+d), then d may beequal to 1. In some embodiments, the value of d (e.g., and/or a grossprocessing time, including processing associated with the comparison andthe dropping) may be indicated as part of UE capability, e.g., orpredefined in 3GPP or other specifications.

A second procedure for resolving (e.g., inter-priority) collisions mayrelate to transmissions for SR and data. In case of collision between anSR (e.g., to be transmitted on PUCCH or potentially PUSCH) and data forother channels (e.g., PUSCH), a variety of UE behaviors for selectingresources may be applied at least depending on the type of overlappingUL transmissions. In other words, the UE may adjust one or more ULtransmissions in response to the collision by selecting resources andadjusting the transmission to fit the selected resources.

As a first example, in case of a positive SR (e.g., the UE has data totransmit, and is ready to request an UL grant via an SR), the UE maydrop PUSCH data with lower priority order and transmit an SR with higherpriority order. For example, the PUSCH data may be associated with eMBBwhile the SR may be associated with URLLC. Alternatively, in the casethat the PUSCH data is higher priority, the UE may drop the SR andtransmit the PUSCH data. This design may offer the benefit ofsimplicity, but may result in PUSCH throughput loss for lower priorityservices (e.g. eMBB).

As a second example, the UE may multiplex SR (e.g., of a higher priorityorder) and PUSCH (e.g., with lower priority order) in the PUSCHresources. In this approach, a UE may be configured with different betaoffset values for different priority orders. The different beta offsetvalues may be used by the UE to determine a number of resources (e.g., anumber of resource elements (RE) and/or other time/frequency resources)and/or a location of the resources for multiplexing SR information in aPUSCH with different priority order. For example, beta offset may be asshown below:β_(offset) ^(SR,n) , n=0 . . . , N−1

In some designs, two beta offset values may be configured withone-to-one association with priority order. For example, a first betaoffset:β_(offset) ^(SR,0)

may be used for calculation of a number of resources for SR withpriority order 0 in PUSCH with different priority order (e.g., priorityorder 1) in case they are overlapped. A second beta offset:β_(offset) ^(SR,1)

may be used for calculation of a number of resources for SR withpriority order 1 in PUSCH with different priority order (e.g. priorityorder 0) in case they are overlapped. In other words, a beta offset maybe applied by the UE to determine what resources (e.g., and/or how manyresources) to use in order to multiplex a SR with UL data to transmit inPUSCH. For example, if the SR is higher priority than the PUSCH data,the SR may be allocated relatively more resources (e.g., allocation ofresources for PUSCH data may be decreased leaving more resourcesavailable for the SR e.g., for a lower coding rate of the SR, e.g.,improving the likelihood of successful decoding and thus reliability ofthe SR transmission) and the resources may be positioned earlier (e.g.,for lower latency of the SR). In contrast, if the SR is lower prioritythan the PUSCH data, the SR may be allocated relatively fewer resources(e.g., for a lower coding rate of the PUSCH data) and the resources maybe positioned later (e.g., for lower latency of the PUSCH data). Invarious embodiments, beta offset may be used to determine the amount ofresources used for SR and/or the location of the resources used for SR.

In some embodiments, beta offsets equal to zero:β_(offset) ^(SR,0), β_(offset) ^(SR,1)=0

may be supported and a beta offset equal to zero may be dynamicallyindicated as part of DCI Format that schedules PUSCH transmission. Thisapproach may provide the flexibility for the network to cause the UE toskip SR transmission (e.g., beta offset equal to zero may indicate thatthe SR should not be transmitted by the UE) if the SR has relatively lowpriority (e.g. SR of eMBB service), compared to PUSCH priority order(e.g., PUSCH of URLLC). Further, if beta offset is indicated in DCI asequal to zero and the PUSCH and SR have a same priority order, then theUE may conceal (e.g., not transmit) the SR and may (e.g., only) transmitthe corresponding Buffer Status reporting (BSR) on the PUSCH channel,e.g., multiplexed with the PUSCH data. For example, based on abeta-offset equal to 0, the UE may indicate that it has UL data totransmit (e.g., via the BSR) without transmitting the SR, thus freeingmore resources for the PUSCH transmission.

In some embodiments, multiplexing SR (e.g., on PUCCH) into PUSCH (e.g.,data) transmission may be conducted if the ending symbol of PUSCH is notlater than the ending symbol of PUCCH configured for SR transmission.Otherwise, e.g., if the last symbol of the PUSCH data is after the lastsymbol of the PUCCH (e.g., for the SR), the UE may drop the SRtransmission. In some embodiments, such dropping the SR if the PUSCHextends beyond the PUCCH may apply when the priority order of SR andPUSCH data are the same (e.g., when no beta offset may apply), andmultiplexing may be performed according to the beta offset in the caseof different priority levels. In some embodiments, such dropping the SRif the PUSCH extends beyond the PUCCH may apply regardless of whetherthe priority order of SR and PUSCH data are the same or different (e.g.,whether or not a beta offset may apply).

A third procedure for (e.g., inter-priority) collisions may relate toHARQ ACKs/NACKs and/or channel state information (CSI) (e.g., UCI otherthan SR) and data. In case of collision between an ACK/NACK or CSI(e.g., to be transmitted on PUCCH or potentially PUSCH) with data, avariety of UE behaviors may be applied, e.g., to adjust one or more ULtransmissions to fit selected resources.

As one example, a number of sets of beta offset values given by:β_(offset) ^(HARQ-ACK,i)

may be configured by higher layers for HARQ-ACK (e.g., and/or NACK)multiplexing in PUSCH according to separate beta offset values (e.g.,tables of offset values), wherein i is the set index. Each set:β_(offset) ^(HARQ-ACK,i)

may include a number of elements e.g.:β_(offset,0) ^(HARQ-ACK,i), β_(offset,1) ^(HARQ-ACK,i)β_(offset,2)^(HARQ-ACK,i)

for the UE to use if the UE multiplexes HARQ-ACK in the PUSCH. Therespective elements may be used if the UE multiplexes up to 2 HARQ-ACKbits, more than 2 and up to 11 bits, and more than 11 bits in the PUSCH,respectively. It will be appreciated that any ranges/thresholds for thenumber of HARQ-ACK bits may be used as desired and that differentnumbers of beta offset elements (e.g., potentially more than 3) may beused. For example, depending on the number of bits of HARQ-ACK (e.g.,and/or NACK) information to transmit, and further depending on therelative priority of the HARQ-ACK information relative to the PUSCHdata, the UE may determine the resources to use to multiplex theHARQ-ACK information with the PUSCH data. Similar to the (e.g., second)procedure for SR transmissions, if the HARQ-ACK information is higherpriority, then the beta offset set may provide more and/or earlierresources for the HARQ-ACK information, and may thus achieve betterlatency and/or reliability performance.

As a second example, two sets of beta offset values:<β_(offset) ^(CSI-1,i)>

may be configured for Part 1 CSI reports and Part 2 CSI reports, where iis the set index. Pairs in Set 0 may be described as:<β_(offset,0) ^(CSI-1,0), β_(offset,1) ^(CSI-1,0), β_(offset,0)^(CSI-2,0), β_(offset,1) ^(CSI-2,0)>,

and pairs in Set 1 may be described as:<β_(offset,0) ^(CSI-1,1), β_(offset,1) ^(CSI-1,1), β_(offset,0)^(CSI-2,1), β_(offset,1) ^(CSI-2,1)>

Where:<β_(offset,0) ^(CSI-1,i), β_(offset,1) ^(CSI-1,i), β_(offset,0)^(CSI-2,i), β_(offset,1) ^(CSI-2,i)>

Pairs in set 0 may be used for UE to multiplex up to 11 bits of CSI andpairs in set 1 may be used to multiplex more than 11 bits of CSIreports. It will be appreciated that thresholds other than 11 bits maybe used as desired. Further, additional sets of beta-offset values maybe used as desired.

In some embodiments, the set index and the beta offset value within theindicated set that are used for multiplexing HARQ-ACK or CSI parts maybe signaled to a UE either by a DCI format scheduling the PUSCHtransmission or by higher layers, e.g., higher layer signaling such asRRC.

In another embodiment, the beta offset value within the indicated setthat are used for multiplexing HARQ-ACK or CSI parts may be signaled toa UE either by a DCI format scheduling the PUSCH transmission or byhigher layers. However, the set index may be determined based on thepriority order (e.g., of the transmission(s) being adjusted based on thebeta offset value), which may be signaled by POI field in DCI Formatand/or configured by RRC signaling. More specifically, one set of betaoffset values may be configured or implicitly determined to be used forPUSCH with a particular service type. As one example, the set 0 may beused for HARQ-ACK or CSI feedback of URLLC service (e.g., targeting ahigher reliability transmission) while, the 2nd set (e.g., set 1) may beused for HARQ-ACK or CSI associated with eMBB service (e.g., with alower reliability target).

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a method in accordance with this thirdprocedure. With reference to FIG. 11 , the UE may determine that two ormore transmissions (e.g., and/or sets/groups of transmissions) collidefor a slot (1110). One or more of the transmissions may be UCI such asHARQ-ACK information and/or CSI. Another transmission may include data,e.g., to be transmitted on PUSCH. The two transmissions may havedifferent priority levels. The UE may determine what, if any, resourcesto use for the transmission (1120). For example, the UE may determine aset index for each transmission (e.g., based on the priority level ofthe HARQ-ACK and/or CSI report information) and which beta-offset valuewithin the indicated set (e.g., based on the number of bits of theHARK-ACK and/or CSI) to determine the number and/or location ofresources for UCI transmission, e.g., multiplexed with the data.

In a fourth procedure (e.g., for intra-group and/or inter-priority)collisions, a PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) may be included in DCI andmay be used to adjust a UL transmission to fit the indicated resources,according to some embodiments. The PRI may be used to schedule UCIresponsive to DL data, e.g., transmitted on PDSCH and scheduled by theDCI. The PRI may indicate which PUCCH resources (e.g., including thelocation and/or number of resources) the UE should use to for UCI (e.g.,HARQ-ACK bits) corresponding to the PDSCH that is scheduled by the DCI.PRI may be an IE and may be included in various DCI formats, accordingto some embodiments. For example, a DL grant may schedule a DLtransmission on PDSCH. The DL grant may use a DCI format that includes aPRI. PRI may indicate which PUCCH resources (e.g., of multiple PUCCHresources that are configured by the BS) the UE should use to transmitUCI (e.g., HARQ-ACK feedback) in response to the DL transmission onPDSCH. In other words, the PRI of a DCI may be useful for dynamicallyindicating which PUCCH resources, e.g., of a plurality of configuredPUCCH resources, may be used to transmit UCI responsive to DL datascheduled by the DCI.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flowchart of a method in accordance with thisfourth procedure, according to some embodiments. The UE may estimate amaximum payload of PUCCH resource indicated by a PRI in a DCI (1210),according to some embodiments. The maximum payload size, X, may bedetermined by: X=N_(RE)×2×r, e.g., for resources according to PUCCHformats 2, 3, or 4, where N_(RE) is the number of REs available for UCItransmissions from the PUCCH formats 2, 3, or 4, and r is the maximumcode rate (e.g., or MCS, etc.) for PUCCH formats 2, 3, or 4, e.g., asconfigured by higher layers (e.g., RRC signaling, e.g., in 802). In someembodiments, the code rate for HARQ-ACK and CSI are separatelyconfigured (e.g., with r^(HARQ-ACK), r^(CSI)) The separate code ratesmay be used to determine the corresponding maximum bits number, X.

The UE may determine whether the total number of bits (e.g., of HARQ-ACKand/or CSI) is less than or equal to the maximum payload, X (1220). Ifthe total number of bits is less than or equal to the maximum payload,the UE may transmit the HARQ-ACK and/or CSI on the PUCCH resources,e.g., in the indicated format (1230). However, if the total number ofbits exceeds X, then some or all of the HARQ-ACK and/or CSI bits may bedropped (e.g., as needed to reach a transmission size not greater thanX) (1240). HARQ-ACK and/or CSI bits may be dropped based on prioritylevel (e.g., lower priority bits may be dropped first). For example,bits of a UL transmission of a lower priority service may be droppedfirst. Alternatively (e.g., for intra-group collisions), HARQ-ACK and/orCSI bits may be selectively dropped. As one example, the followingpriority order may be defined for HARQ-ACK and/or CSI bits selection:HARQ-ACK and/or CSI of component carrier (CC) with a lower index hashigher priority for transmission compared to CSI of CC with a larger CCindex. As a second example, CSI with smaller report identifier (ID) mayhave a higher priority than larger report ID. After enough CSI bits aredropped, the UE may proceed to transmit the HARQ-ACK and/or CSI (e.g.,in 1230). It will be appreciated that the total number of bits may beevaluated (e.g., in 1220) before any potential dropping (e.g., withoutadjusting for any bits which may be dropped in 1240).

In other words, the UE may compare a bit size of one or more ULtransmissions (e.g., UCI and/or data/PUSCH) to a maximum payload sizefor the transmission. If the bit size of the (e.g., summed)transmission(s) is greater than the maximum payload size, then the UEmay drop one or more bits of the transmission(s) in order to stay withinthe maximum payload size. It will be appreciated that this fourthprocedure may be applied iteratively. For example, if a group oftransmissions of a lower priority are to be transmitted in the same slotas a group of transmissions of a higher priority, a first determinationmay be made to drop bits of the lower priority group, and a seconddetermination may be made to drop bits of a particular transmissionwithin the lower priority group (e.g., selected based on a CC indexand/or report ID).

In some embodiments, bits before and/or after the HARQ-ACK and/or CSIpayload (e.g., before or after the X bits indicated in the PRI) may beused for transmission of other transmissions, e.g., within the groupand/or transmissions of another group.

A fifth procedure for resolving (e.g., inter-priority) collisions mayinclude multiplexing lower priority transmissions with higher prioritytransmissions, subject to the condition that the end (e.g., last symbol)of the lower priority transmission is not later than the end (e.g., lastsymbol) of the higher priority transmission. In other words, the UE maydetermine the respective ends of respective transmissions andmultiplexing the lower priority transmission(s) (e.g., or group oftransmissions) may be performed under circumstances in which themultiplexing will not delay the end of the transmission of the higherpriority transmission (e.g., or group of transmissions). FIGS. 13 and 14illustrate examples of this fifth procedure, according to someembodiments.

As shown in FIG. 13 , in one example, UL transmission 1310 may havehigher priority order than that of UL transmission 1320. Accordingly,the UE may drop UL transmission 1320 based on a determination that theending symbol of UL transmission 1320 is later than that of ULtransmission 1310.

In another example, as shown in FIG. 14 , UL transmission 1430 may havehigher priority order than that of UL transmission 1440. Accordingly, ULtransmission 1440 may be multiplexed into (e.g., with) UL transmission1430 based on a determination that the ending symbol of UL transmission1440 is earlier than that of UL transmission 1430. It will beappreciated that any of the UL transmissions 1310, 1320, 1430, and/or1440 may be a group of multiple transmissions.

A sixth procedure for resolving (e.g., inter-priority) collisions mayconcern collisions between SR and HARQ-ACK (e.g., and/or NACK)transmissions of different priority orders. For example, where an SR isconfigured with PUCCH format 0 and HARQ-ACK is configured with the sameor different PUCCH format and the SR and HARQ-ACK have differentpriority orders, this sixth procedure may apply. The UE may drop eitheran SR transmission or HARQ-ACK transmission based on a predefined rule(e.g., or set of rules) or may transmit both the SR transmission and theHARQ-ACK transmission, e.g., depending on PUCCH format of either or bothof the transmissions and/or other factors. Such a rule (or rules) may bedesigned to prioritize reliability of one type of transmission. Such arule (or rules) may be configured by the network (e.g., in 802).

In some embodiments, the sixth procedure may involve successiveapplication of various rules. As a first rule, in case of a negative SR(e.g., at a time configured for transmission of an SR, the UE may nothave data to transmit and may not request resources), the UE maytransmit the HARQ-ACK information, e.g., and may not transmit the (e.g.,negative) SR. As a second rule, if a processing time budget is met(e.g., if the SR and the HARQ-ACK may be combined in the appropriateformat sufficiently quickly), the UE may transmit both the (e.g.,positive or negative) SR and HARQ-ACK bits. For example, the SR andHARQ-ACK may be transmitted using PUCCH format 0. As a third rule, ifneither the first nor second rule is applicable, the UE may drop theHARQ-ACK transmission.

For example, if an SR is associated with a high priority (e.g., URLLC)and a HARQ-ACK is associated with a lower priority (e.g., eMBB), thesuccessive rules may be applied as follows. If the SR is negative, thelower priority HARQ-ACK may be transmitted (e.g., according to the firstrule). If the first rule is inapplicable and/or if the SR (e.g.,positive or negative) may be combined with the HARQ-ACK sufficientlyquickly, they may both be transmitted (e.g., according to the secondrule). If the SR is positive and the SR may not be combined with theHARQ-ACK sufficiently quickly, the SR (e.g., only) may be transmittedand the HARQ-ACK may be dropped (e.g., according to the third rule).

As another example, if an SR is associated with a low priority (e.g.,eMBB) and a HARQ-ACK is associated with a higher priority (e.g., URLLC),the successive rules may be applied as follows. If the SR is negative,the higher priority HARQ-ACK may be transmitted (e.g., according to thefirst rule). If the first rule is inapplicable and/or if the SR (e.g.,positive or negative) may be combined with the HARQ-ACK sufficientlyquickly, they may both be transmitted (e.g., according to the secondrule). If the SR is positive and the SR may not be combined with theHARQ-ACK sufficiently quickly, the HARQ-ACK may be transmitted and theSR may be dropped (e.g., according to the third rule).

It will be appreciated that the rules may be applied in differentorders, some rules may be omitted, and/or additional rules may beapplied. For example, the second rule may only be applied after thefirst rule (e.g., the second rule may only be reached if the first ruleis inapplicable because the SR is positive), according to someembodiments. In other embodiments, the second rule may be applied priorto the first rule (e.g., the second rule may be applied first, and thusmay apply to positive or negative SR).

A seventh procedure for resolving (e.g., inter-priority) collisions mayconcern collisions between SR and CSI, e.g., with different priorityorders. The UE may determine to transmit CSI together with the SR or todrop the CSI transmission based on the PUCCH format used for the SRtransmission. For example, if the PUCCH format for the SR is a longPUCCH format, (e.g. PUCCH format 1, etc.) and the SR and CSI areassociated with different priorities (e.g. one is URLLC and another iseMBB), the UE may transmit both SR and CSI bits on the PUCCH resourceoriginally assigned for CSI transmission, e.g., after concatenatingthese bits into one sequence. In other words, if the PUCCH formatapplicable to one transmission is a long PUCCH format, bothtransmissions may be combined and transmitted on the resources for theCSI transmission. PUCCH for SR may typically be smaller than PUCHH forCSI; thus, PUCCH for CSI may be better able to accommodate both CSI andSR. In some embodiments, the UE may determine to concatenate thetransmissions in response to determining that the size of theconcatenated transmissions would be small enough to transmit onresources associated with one of the transmissions.

It will be appreciated that the procedures described above may beapplied in any combination. For example, any one of the procedures maybe applied individually and/or two or more of the procedures may beapplied together. If two or more procedures are applied together, theprocedures may be applied sequentially, e.g., in any order desired,and/or may be applied concurrently, e.g., in parallel.

Returning to FIG. 8 , the UE may transmit the transmissions according tothe order and/or multiplexing approach determined according to one ormore of the procedures (808), according to some embodiments. Thetransmissions may be transmitted concurrently and/or sequentially, e.g.,on resources according to one or more channels (e.g., PDSCH, PUSCH,etc.).

It will be appreciated that, although 804, 806, and 808 have beenprimarily described with respect to a PHY layer of the UE 106 performingUL transmissions, that embodiments of the present disclosure may beapplied to a BS 102 performing DL transmissions. For example, a BS 102may group one or more DL transmissions (804), resolve any collisions(806), and perform DL transmissions (808), according to someembodiments. Further, embodiments of the present disclosure may beapplied by other layers of the UE and/or BS.

Additional Information and Examples

According to certain aspects of this disclosure, in the case ofcollision between UL transmissions with different priority orders, theUL transmission with lower priority order may be dropped, e.g.,transmission of the lower priority may be stopped starting from thefirst overlapped symbols.

According to yet another aspects of this disclosure, if a UE has morethan one overlapping resources for UL transmissions in a slot and atleast two of the UL transmissions have a same priority order, thefollowing collision handling procedure may be applied: the UE firstgroups the UL transmissions with a same priority order, then the UEfollows the intra-group procedure for resolving the any overlap amongthe transmissions within the formed group(s), and then the UE may selectand transmit the UL transmission across groups based on priority order.

It will be appreciated that although various of the procedures discussedabove for resolving collisions have been described with respect tocertain types of transmissions, the various procedures may apply toother types of transmissions. For example, the various beta offsets maybe applied to different types of DCI, etc.

In a first set of embodiments, a method for operating a UE may comprise:at a physical (PHY) layer of the UE: connecting to a serving basestation; determining respective types of at least two transmissions;determining respective priority levels of the at least twotransmissions; resolving at least one collision between the at least twotransmissions; and transmitting the at least two transmissions to theserving base station, wherein at least one of a transmission order or amultiplexing of the at least two transmissions is based on saidresolving the at least one collision.

In a second set of embodiments, a method for operating a UE, maycomprise: connecting to a base station; receiving configurationinformation for a plurality of services, wherein the first service isassociated with a first set of transmission targets, wherein the secondservice is associated with a second set of transmission targets, whereinthe first service is associated with a first priority, wherein thesecond service is associated with a second priority, wherein the firstpriority is higher than the second priority; transmitting a firsttransmission associated with the first service according to the firstset of transmission targets; transmitting a second transmissionassociated with second service according to the second set oftransmission targets; detecting a collision between a third transmissionassociated with the first service and a fourth transmission associatedwith the second service; applying one or more rules to resolve thecollision; and performing a transmission according to the resolution.

In some embodiments, the first service may comprise ultra-reliable lowlatency communication.

In some embodiments, the second service may comprise enhanced mobilebroadband.

In some embodiments, applying the one or more rules to resolve thecollision and performing the transmission according to the resolutionmay comprise transmitting the third transmission and dropping the fourthtransmission.

In some embodiments, applying the one or more rules to resolve thecollision and performing the transmission according to the resolutionmay comprise transmitting the third transmission first and transmittingthe fourth transmission second.

In some embodiments, applying the one or more rules to resolve thecollision and performing the transmission according to the resolutionmay comprise multiplexing the third transmission and the fourthtransmission.

In some embodiments, applying the one or more rules to resolve thecollision and performing the transmission according to the resolutionmay comprise transmitting the third transmission and the fourthtransmission at the same time.

In some embodiments, the third transmission may use a lower coding ratethan the fourth transmission.

In some embodiments, the third transmission may comprise a schedulingrequest.

In some embodiments, the third transmission may comprise PUSCH data.

In some embodiments, the third transmission may comprise anacknowledgement.

In some embodiments, the configuration information may specify the firstpriority level for the first service and the second priority level forthe second service.

In some embodiments, said detecting and said applying may be performedat a physical (PHY) layer of the UE.

In some embodiments, the method may further comprise: receiving downlinkcontrol information (DCI) for the third transmission associated with thefirst service, wherein the DCI for the third transmission specifies thefirst priority level; wherein said applying the one or more rules isbased on the DCI for the third transmission specifying the firstpriority level.

In some embodiments, the DCI for the third transmission may include apriority order indicator (POI) field specifying the first prioritylevel.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be realized in any of variousforms. For example, some embodiments may be realized as acomputer-implemented method, a computer-readable memory medium, or acomputer system. Other embodiments may be realized using one or morecustom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. Still other embodimentsmay be realized using one or more programmable hardware elements such asFPGAs.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable memory mediummay be configured so that it stores program instructions and/or data,where the program instructions, if executed by a computer system, causethe computer system to perform a method, e.g., any of a methodembodiments described herein, or, any combination of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any combination of such subsets.

In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE) may be configured to includea processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium, where thememory medium stores program instructions, where the processor isconfigured to read and execute the program instructions from the memorymedium, where the program instructions are executable to implement anyof the various method embodiments described herein (or, any combinationof the method embodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of themethod embodiments described herein, or, any combination of suchsubsets). The device may be realized in any of various forms.

It is well understood that the use of personally identifiableinformation should follow privacy policies and practices that aregenerally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmentalrequirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular,personally identifiable information data should be managed and handledso as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use,and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerabledetail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent tothose skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated.It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace allsuch variations and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: at a user equipment device(UE): connecting to a base station; receiving, from the base station,first downlink control information (DCI), scheduling a firsttransmission, the first DCI indicating a first priority for the firsttransmission using a priority field of one or more bits; receiving, fromthe base station, second DCI scheduling a second transmission, thesecond DCI indicating a second priority for the second transmissionusing the priority field; detecting a collision during a symbol of afirst slot between the first transmission and the second transmission;applying one or more rules to resolve the collision based at least inpart on the first priority and the second priority; and performing atransmission during the first slot according to the resolution; andreceiving, from the base station, third DCI scheduling a thirdtransmission, the third DCI not including the priority field.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the first transmission is associated withultra-reliable low latency communication and the second transmission isassociated with enhanced mobile broadband.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein said detecting and said applying are performed at a physical(PHY) layer of the UE.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein said detectingand said applying are performed at a lower layer of the UE.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein respective priority fields of the first andsecond DCI comprise 1 bit, wherein the third DCI includes zero bits forthe priority field.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein said performingthe transmission during the first slot comprises adjusting an amount ofresources used for the transmission based on a maximum payload size. 7.The method of claim 6, wherein said adjusting the amount of resourcescomprises: determining a sum of a bit size of the first transmission anda bit size of the second transmission; determining that the sum exceedsthe maximum payload size; and dropping at least one bit based on thedetermination that the sum exceeds the maximum payload size.
 8. Themethod of claim 6, wherein said adjusting the amount of resourcescomprises adjusting a time used for at least one of the firsttransmission and/or the second transmission.
 9. A method, comprising: ata base station: connecting to a user equipment device (UE);transmitting, to the UE, first downlink control information (DCI),scheduling a first transmission, the first DCI indicating a firstpriority for the first transmission using a priority field of one ormore bits; transmitting, to the UE, second DCI scheduling a secondtransmission, the second DCI indicating a second priority for the secondtransmission using the priority field; receiving, from the UE accordingto the first and second DCI; and transmitting, to the UE, third DCIscheduling a third transmission, the third DCI not including thepriority field.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the firsttransmission is associated with ultra-reliable low latency communicationand the second transmission is associated with enhanced mobilebroadband.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein respective priority fieldsof the first and second DCI comprise 1 bit, wherein the third DCIincludes zero bits for the priority field.
 12. The method of claim 9,wherein said receiving includes an amount of resources based on amaximum payload size.
 13. An apparatus, comprising: a processorconfigured to cause a user equipment device (UE): connect to a basestation; receive, from the base station, first downlink controlinformation (DCI), scheduling a first transmission, the first DCIindicating a first priority for the first transmission using a priorityfield of one or more bits; receive, from the base station, second DCIscheduling a second transmission, the second DCI indicating a secondpriority for the second transmission using the priority field; detect acollision during a symbol of a first slot between the first transmissionand the second transmission; apply one or more rules to resolve thecollision based at least in part on the first priority and the secondpriority; and perform a transmission during the first slot according tothe resolution; and receive, from the base station, third DCI schedulinga third transmission, the third DCI not including the priority field.14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first transmission isassociated with ultra-reliable low latency communication and the secondtransmission is associated with enhanced mobile broadband.
 15. Theapparatus of claim 13, wherein said detecting and said applying areperformed at a physical (PHY) layer of the UE.
 16. The apparatus ofclaim 13, wherein said detecting and said applying are performed at alower layer of the UE.
 17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein respectivepriority fields of the first and second DCI comprise 1 bit, wherein thethird DCI includes zero bits for the priority field.
 18. The apparatusof claim 13, wherein to perform the transmission during the first slotcomprises adjusting an amount of resources used for the transmissionbased on a maximum payload size.
 19. The apparatus of claim 18, whereinsaid adjusting the amount of resources comprises: determining a sum of abit size of the first transmission and a bit size of the secondtransmission; determining that the sum exceeds the maximum payload size;and dropping at least one bit based on the determination that the sumexceeds the maximum payload size.
 20. The apparatus of claim 18, whereinsaid adjusting the amount of resources comprises adjusting a time usedfor at least one of the first transmission and/or the secondtransmission.